How to Avoid Premature Trailer Fatigue?
Filed under: Fandom, Movie Marketing
If it's not trailers, it's teasers; if it's not teasers; it's images. By the time a blockbuster finally arrives, if you haven't heard so much about it that you want to scream -- from overload or delight -- the studio's marketing team hasn't done their job. But how early is too early to begin promoting a movie?
Pointing to this week's release of a teaser trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, more than a year in advance of its planned theatrical roll-out in July 2010, The Big Money wonders if that's a good strategy: "How do you keep interest high then over the long autumn, winter, and spring? By producing trailer after trailer? Hollywood will watch this strategy closely to see at what point trailer fatigue sets in or whether it needs to build interest even earlier in its expensive summer blockbusters." Of course, as io9 observed, this isn't a new strategy; The Incredibles got teased 18 months in advance and Star Trek 16 months early (due in part to a release delay). Watchmen tried a different strategy that seemed to work, releasing behind the scenes clips (or "video journals") each month in the year leading up to its theatrical debut.
How do you pique interest and build awareness without potential viewers feeling like the movie's being jammed down their throats? Is it better to wait until closer to the release date? Are too many trailers and other advance promotional devices causing you to suffer from "trailer fatigue"? How early do you want to start seeing teasers and trailers?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-29-2009 @ 5:57PM
Dan L said...
I think in this specific instance, this gives the mainstream audience a little more time to associate the name "Avatar" with this project, if they give it that kind of attention, before that name's whisked away by...eherm....Avatar.
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6-29-2009 @ 6:10PM
Fullman said...
In the case of Star Trek, there was only one teaser ("under construction"), and two trailers. This seems to the the format that most movies have been marketed, remembering back to my theater gig and projectionist duties in 97-99 and 2002.
There have only been a handful of films that I can remember that had an extraordinary amount of teasers and trailers.
Try not to get teasers/trailers confused with TV spots, in which case, most films can have anywhere from 10-20 spots in the weeks leading up to the film's release.
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6-29-2009 @ 6:18PM
david said...
Well, I can actually point to Avatar as a perfect example of how to pique interest.
I actually got to view about 12 minutes of the movie by randomly meeting someone who is working in the production company. For his job security I won't say who, nor will I answer any other questions about specifics of what I saw, or was told, but to say it was AMAZING.
Everyone who's seen it has said as much, and we're less than 6 months away from release, and there isn't even a trailer for the thing.
As soon as the trailer is released, I can't even imagine the stir this thing is going to cause, because it truly is going to be the most unbelievable thing you have ever seen. It also probably will be shown at comi con, considering they just wrapped production on the movie, and the scenes are ready for final cut. That will be the perfect time to show just enough to make the buzz just the right pitch when the movie hits.
Alright, I've already said too much, and I hope James doesn't go on a head hunting spree because of this post.
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6-29-2009 @ 9:06PM
F.U.B.A.R. said...
I can't stand the way studios show too much in trailers. You feel like you have seen the film already when you finally see it. The art of truely teasing a film and giving a theatrical trailer that only pumps you up without ruining the film for you is all but dead. The ideal marketing approach can best be examplified by Fox's 1979 film Alien. The print ads just showed the egg cracking open with that eerie green glow coming out and the almost egg crate type of structure on the bottom with the tagline "In Space No One Can Hear You Scream". You truely had no idea what to expect. It could be anything. Then came that cool teaser with the streaking stars over the rocky surface of some alien planet and the quick glimpses of the egg with that high pitched tone. Some ads were so short that it was just the egg cracking open and some light coming out and the high tone with an announcer saying "Alien". The theatrical trailer was similar to the teaser but with very fast shots of the film. Again, you almost had no idea what you were looking at. But it all worked to increase the temptation of wanting to see the film. The mystery and unknown is the reason you would want to see it, not the fact that you saw everything good in the film in the trailer. I know that studios make it a point nowadays to show all the money shots in the trailers because they feel it will drive ticket sales, but it all at the expense of ruining the film for the veiwer. It is truely sad, but I don't see it happening any other way because of all the greed in Hollywood. Do the right thing and don't blow every thing for the audience before they even see a second of footage.
7-02-2009 @ 4:49PM
Merritt said...
I agree with you. I'm a 48 yr old mother of two teenage kids and we've all been hooked on Avatar, the Last Airbender for years. I think Hollywood makes a mistake when they say this is a "kiddie" film. I was always amazed that something this deep and well thought out was on a kids network but to call this "kiddie" is not true. ATLA I think is going to be the surprise hit of next summer. Don't get me wrong, both my 16 yr old daughter and myself are Twilight fans and we will see Eclipse too but honestly ATLA is the one we are most looking forward to. That being said I think the trailer was released early to quash some of the racism charges against the casting choices. They are showcasing Noah Ringer as Aang to help lay some of that to rest. Judging by the comments I'm seeing on You Tube, Facebook, Myspace etc...it's working.
7-04-2009 @ 2:10PM
Ken said...
Disney is really irritating me at the moment (this article reminded me.) Their big CGI extravaganza "A Christmas Carol" only comes out in 4 months and we haven't gotton a single trailer, teaser or otherwise. The same thing happened with Zemeckis' other CGI film, "Beowulf." The first trailer to that one seemed like 5 months before its opening.
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6-30-2009 @ 12:58AM
Bryan Price said...
Then there's Harry Potter. Not that pushing it back 8 months had anything to do with that, but... Dang!
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6-30-2009 @ 3:37AM
Mike said...
Does the preview for back to the future 3 at the end of BTTF 2 count?
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6-30-2009 @ 9:40AM
AJ said...
well if this is the only thing until march...not to mention the full trailer will surely premier in front of iron man 2
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6-30-2009 @ 9:46AM
Meredith said...
I suspect that the "Airbender" teaser was promoted so early because of all the contention stemming from the loyal fanbase of the show, most of us whom are quite PISSED OFF at the complete white-washing of the cast. They're trying to appease us. It probably won't work.
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6-30-2009 @ 9:51AM
justin said...
i hate trailers, for all the reasons F.U.B.A.R. mentioned. it's a subject that's been beaten to death ad nauseum online, yet the film studios either ignore us or just don't care.
i wish directors would just shoot footage specifically for the trailer. remember the first teaser for Face/Off? how the camera circled around Travolta, and when it got back around to the front, he was Cage? why can't all trailers be like that?
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6-30-2009 @ 10:15AM
Marc said...
Great post Peter...been complaining about that for years!!
@4 Couldn't agree more!!
But more to Cinematical's post, what I believe kills the hype that early on is that the 'clamor' that is created by a kick ass teaser or trailer severely dissipates when you have to wait a full year to see the film whose trailer you just saw. Trailers get people ready to see a movie...but, we all have short attention spans and a clamor doesn't sustain itself, we need more and at the time the studios don't have it. So, don't tease us sooo far out that we forget about the movie completely in another 6 months while waiting for it.
IMO, movies come out every single week and because of that most films, sadly, they have no longevity, save for great films that keep people coming back. After 3 to 4 weeks many films are gone from theaters without anyone noticing they were there in the first place. So if a film's stay is limited to less than a month why do studios promote sooo far in advance?? It seems studios try to get the biggest opening weekend figures, then after opening night, they cut way back on advertising that movie and then move on to the next release date. Sort of understandable I guess since Studios can make their money on the film on the back end with the sales of DVDs.
I think this topic deserves more room to write about than this board. I've got more thoughts in case anyone's interested: http://greatct.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/the-trailer-industry-stikes-again/
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6-30-2009 @ 6:07PM
Lee Young said...
Nothing got me more excited for a film than watching all the production diaries Peter Jackson released for King Kong.
I would love to see more film makers deliver this kind of material.
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